VASIMR at Full Power

This video shows the startup of the VASIMR 1st stage over 5 seconds, the increasing power of the second stage over 3 seconds, a plateau of full power operation for 5 seconds, and then rocket shut down. The VX-200 is operating in a 150 cubic meter vacuum chamber, used to simulate the vacuum of space. Ad Astra Rocket Companys VASIMR® VX-200 rocket prototype reached its highly-coveted 200 kW maximum power milestone at 11:59 am (CST) September 30th 2009 in tests conducted at the companys Houston laborator